According to “The Prince”, a book written by an Italian politician named Machiavelli; that in order to be a good leader, the prince must understand the notion of appearance vs. reality. That is to say, it is good for a prince to be manipulative but he needs to appear good to the public. In Elizabethan politics, this notion is often rejected and the term “Machiavellian villain” is given to people who share similar traits with the “Prince”. In this passage, one may argue that through Macbeth’s uncertainly in his language, he is driven mad with ambitious thoughts by his surroundings rather than being someone who is inherently evil with the characteristics of a Machiavellian villain.
Macbeth is an honest thane who is referred to as “brave Macbeth (1.1.16)” in the beginning of the play. Through this passage that is spoken in an aside, a monolog where characters reveal their most inner thought with the reader, Macbeth confesses to the reader that he is truly confused and lost in this sudden change of events. This passage contains many questions asked by Macbeth, which can be interpreted as Macbeth not able to determine whether the weird sisters’ prophecies are good or bad. These features help to defend Macbeth as a noble character who is not naturally evil.
If the weird sisters did not tell Macbeth that he will become the king one day, the seed of ambition would not have been able to grow in his mind and the thought of murdering Duncan would not have occurred. This notion can be seen through Macbeth speaking in feminine lines. When Macbeth says “Why hath it given me earnest of success / Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor, / If good, why do I yield to that suggestion (1.3.131-133)”, it brings out an unnatural feeling due to the feminine endings of these two lines. Feminine endings are lines that have an extra unstressed syllable at the ending of a line, suggesting unbalanced or unnatural events. Unnaturalness is usually associated...